Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.7.
Tribe: Millettieae.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: ca. 45 studied; ca. 145 in genus.
Fruit: A legume, or a loment (or a loment segment); unilocular; 2–16 cm long; 0.9–4.5 cm wide; 0.1–1 cm thick; length less than twice as long as width to 2–9 times longer than wide to more than 9 times longer than wide; with deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight; not plicate; not twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; elliptic, or falcate, or fusiform, or linear (nearly), or moniliform, or obovate, or obliquely obovate; with 1 straight and 1 curved suture, or both sutures parallelly curved; widest near middle or D-shaped; not inflated; compressed, or flattened; without beak, or with beak (very short); straight; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; rounded at apex, or emarginate at apex, or truncate at apex, or tapered at apex, or long tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base, or tapered at base, or short tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; membranous to chartaceous to coriaceous to ligneous; seed chambers externally visible, or invisible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin slightly constricted along both margins, or slightly constricted only on 1 margin; margin with sulcus, or without sulcus; margin plain, or embellished; margin with ridge(s), or wing(s); wing(s) absent, or present; wing(s) 2; wing(s) 1–2 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on 1 suture; nonstipitate, or substipitate, or stipitate; with the stipe 0.1–7 mm long; indehiscent, or with all layers dehiscing (only 7 species dehiscent, see generic notes); splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along 1 suture; apical and down; passive. Replum invisible. Loment an intact article; indehiscent; segments (articles) conspicuous; segments (articles) 14–25(–50) mm long; segments (articles) widest across seed area; segments (articles) with apical 1 different shape than middle one(s) and basal 1 different shape than middle one(s); segments (articles) elliptic to D-shaped. Epicarp dull; monochrome, or multicolored; mottled; tan to brown, or yellow; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or glabrate, or pubescent and indurate, or pubescent but soon deciduous; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; puberulent, or velutinous; with pubescence golden to brown; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; veined, or not veined; reticulately veined, or irregularly veined; not tuberculate, or tuberculate; with solid tubercles on each valve; papillose, or rugose, or tuberculate; not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present, or absent (in the thinnest, indehiscent, membranous fruits); thin; surface not veined; 1-layered, or 2-layered; without balsamic vesicles, or with balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; with solid layer over solid layer, or spongy layer over solid layer; coriaceous, or chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull, or glossy; opaque, or translucent; monochrome; brown to tan, or yellow; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; nonseptate; chartaceous; not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp; remaining fused to epicarp; without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–7; length parallel with fruit length, or oblique to fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–6 mm long; of 1 length only; flattened, or thick; curved, or straight, or triangular. Aril present; dry; when dry rim-aril; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; without tongue (or flap) on lips of 2-lipped rim-aril; white to tan.
Seed: 8–27 mm long; 4–16 mm wide; 1–4 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular; symmetrical; reniform to C-shaped, or ovate; compressed, or flattened; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes, or with visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without external groove between radicle and cotyledon lobes; with deep hilar sinus, or with shallow hilar sinus, or without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; without pieces of adhering epicarp; not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull to glossy; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome, or mottled; with infrequent mottles; pale to dark brown, or purple, or tan (rarely); with brown overlay; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; rugose, or wrinkled; chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible, or not visible; from hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa, or darker than testa; brown; flush, or raised. Hilum present; visible, or fully concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum, or lighter colored than the rest of the hilum and therefore conspicuous; larger than punctiform; 0.5–4 mm long; with curved outline, or straight outline; elliptic, or oval; oblong; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; not within corona, halo, or rim, or within rim, or within halo; halo lighter than testa, or darker than testa; rim color lighter than testa, or darker than testa. Lens discernible; 0.5–1 mm long; with margins straight; linear to triangular; not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum to adjacent to hilum; 0.2–0.5 mm from hilum; flush; same color as testa; brown; within rim, or not within corona, halo, or rim; rim color darker than testa. Endosperm present; thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo, or covering at least 1/2 of embryo, but not entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; not folded; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle; similar at apex; not concealing radicle; notched at radicle; without lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; without margins recessed; brown, or green, or tan; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, or right angled; oblique to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose to linear; lobe tip straight, or curved; oblique to cotyledons; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary to moderately developed; glabrous.
Pittier (1917) monographed the Central American species of Lonochocarpus. Tradinationally, Lonchocarpus has been treated as having indehiscent, membranous to characeous fruits. Four small, segregate genera were described to maintain this concept: Philenoptera C.F.F. Hochstetter ex A. Richard, Muellera C. Linnaeus f., Terua P.C. Standley & F.J. Hermann, and Willardia J.N. Rose. Geesink (1984) included Muellera, Willardia, and Terua in this genus and accepted Philenoptera as a good genus. Wiersema et al. (1990) recognized Willardia as a good genus because its species had not been formally transferred to Lonchocarpus. Sousa (1992) reduced Willardia to a section of Lonchocarpus, making the needed combinations for its species. Consequently, we are now following Geesink and including both Terua and Willardia in Lonchocarpus, which includes 7 species with dehiscent fruit in a genus with all other species having indehiscent fruits. Lonchocarpus spp. are frequently used as a fish poison and as a commercial source of rotenone.
Tribe Millettieae
Geesink (1981) treated this tribe, as others before him, under the tribal name Tephroseae, but we now know that its correct name is Millettieae. Recent tribal studies (Geesink, 1981, 1984; Polhill, 1994a, 1994b) have arranged the genera in alphabetical order without phylogenetic numbers. Geesink (1984) monographed tribe Millettieae, and presented descriptive notes about fruits and seeds and in situ fruit and seed drawings. However, we are not entirely following Geesink (1984) for generic parameters because he either questioned the status of many of his new genera or did not make the necessary species transfers. The few new genera which he clearly recognized are being accepted. Lavin et al. (1998) developed a preliminary infratribal classification of six informal groups using phytochrome nucleotides: Millettia group, Lonchocarpus group, Derris group, Tephrosia group, "primitive" group, and Phaseoleae group. Lavin (1987) transferred Sphinctospermum to Millettieae. Lavin and Doyle (1991) carried out cladistic analyses integrating morphological and chloroplast DNA data, and concluded that it is a member of Robineae where we have placed it (now 8.12).
Authors: J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, A.L. Weitzman, M.J. Dallwitz, K.R. Thiele
Content last updated April 2003
Released April 2024 on idtools.org
